


Some Time Off

by reeby10



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bars and Pubs, Boats and Ships, Community: quicky_bang, Community: spnspringfling, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Sea Monsters, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 11:53:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6565087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He told Sam he was heading out on personal business and would be out of touch for a while, and that was that. Sam had called a couple of times, of course, but Dean hadn’t answered. His brother could take care care of himself for a while, and Dean just needed some time off. He’d be back… eventually.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Time Off

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anactoria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anactoria/gifts).



> Originally posted [here](http://spnspringfling.livejournal.com/156053.html) for SPN Spring Fling 2016.
> 
>  **ETA:** Now with fantastic art by angelus2hot for the Quicky Bang 2016! Some of the images are embedded, and you can see the rest of them [here](http://quicky-bang.livejournal.com/6837.html) :)

 

Dean stood at the railing, looking out onto the choppy grey water. Fine salty mist sprayed across his face and he closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling. The sun was setting fast and Benny was at the rear of the boat to steer them ashore for the night.

It was the same thing they’d been doing for the past two weeks, ever since Benny called to say he was heading out on the water for awhile. On instinct, Dean had asked to go with him. He told Sam he was heading out on personal business and would be out of touch for a while, and that was that. Sam had called a couple of times, of course, but Dean hadn’t answered. His brother could take care care of himself for a while, and Dean just needed some time off. He’d be back… eventually.

The boat bumped against the dock and Dean gripped the railing as he stumbled a little. Weeks on the boat and he still hadn’t quite gotten his bearing. It made Benny laugh at him, but he was pretty sure Benny had been born at sea or something, so he didn’t take it seriously. Besides, Benny didn’t do it maliciously or mockingly, not like everyone else Dean knew.

“Thinkin’ hard, cher?” Benny asked, coming up behind Dean and wrapping an arm around his waist.

Dean leaned back into the embrace, sighing a little, and didn’t let himself think about how he wouldn’t be able to have this once he went back. “It’s nothing,” he said. “We docked? I’m craving a good burger.”

“Course,” Benny replied, leaving a quick kiss on Dean’s cheek before pulling away. “Let’s see what grub we can dig up here.”

They headed to the nearest bar, just like they had every other night they docked in a town. They didn’t do it every night, but they both needed to eat. Benny had a pretty good stock of blood bags and Dean had his pick of frozen dinners, but they both liked having some fresh food every few days. And beer, Dean’s a big fan of that too.

Inside the bar is dim and a little smoky, and Dean immediately felt himself start to relax, his earlier uncomfortable thoughts about the future forgotten. They ordered and took a booth in the corner, far enough from the main area for some privacy but close enough that they’d be able to get some good town gossip in. They’d only be there for a day, but Dean knew how important it was to keep an ear open when in a strange town.

Dean made it almost all the way through his burger before he heard something that really caught his attention. The table nearest to them, still a good ten feet away, was having a hushed conversation about some missing persons. One of the men tried to bright up some strange sightings of a large creature off the coast, but was quickly interrupted with narrowed looks and vigorous head shaking, like they desperately didn’t want to think that the two things were connected.

It sounded suspiciously like something Dean should look into before another hunter caught wind of it and showed up. That could be disastrous for both Dean and Benny, especially if it was Sam that came. He wouldn’t be happy at all if he heard about Dean’s little vacation with a vampire.

“You hear that?” Dean asked Benny, inclining his head in the direction of the other table.

Benny nodded, a small wrinkle forming between his brows. “I guess you’re gonna check it out?”

“Kind of have to,” Dean replied with a short, somewhat bitter laugh. “Better me than anyone else showing up, yeah? It shouldn’t take too long. You can wait at the boat while I take care of if you want.”

“Like I’d leave you to do it alone,” Benny said, and Dean smiled. He should have known Benny would help him with whatever mess this turned out to be.

Heaving a sigh, Dean finished off his beer and headed over to the table to get some more information. The men stopped talking as soon as they saw him approaching, eyes darting frantically around. He put on his best, most congenial smile and pulled out a badge.

“Hey, fellas,” he said, holding back the urge to roll his eyes when all he got in return were grunts. “Agent Dylan, FBI. My partner and I are investigating some strange disappearances around here. Could I ask you a few questions?”

With what little he could get from the men at the bar, coupled with what he could get from a few more townspeople who were much more forthcoming over the next few days, Dean sat down to research. Sam had always been better at this part, but Dean was determined. Calling Sam wasn’t an option, not when it could put Benny in harm’s way.

“Find anything yet?” Benny asked, poking his head into the cabin.

Dean nodded, not looking up, and Benny came down to sit next to him. The headache that had begun to form behind his eyes faded away as Benny put an arm around him, kissing his temple. It was so peaceful and comfortable that Dean could almost forget he was supposed to be working on a case.

“I think it’s a lusca,” Dean said after a while, leaning back into Benny’s arms with a sigh. “I don’t know what it’s doing all the way up _here_ , it’s native to the Caribbean, but what I can find of the mythology fits. Now we just have to kill it.”

“And how do we do that?”

“A harpoon dipped in allamanda sap should do it, though we’ll have to go further from shore for that to work,” Dean replied. “I saw a store in town that should have the plant. Think this thing’ll make it about five miles out?”

“Should. But all of that can wait until tomorrow,” Benny said, standing up and holding out a hand. “For now, how about bed, darlin’?”

Dean grinned wickedly. “Sounds good to me.”

Harpooning the lusca turned out to be even easier than Dean had thought it would be. The creature was confused and lost, and that made it vicious but also easy to find. They took it out easily with the harpoon and returned to shore without any problems, which Dean thought was pretty unprecedented. That hadn’t happened on a case in far too long.

They stopped back at the bar for an early dinner for Dean. The townspeople still seemed suspicious of them, but at least this time Dean knew he’d saved any more of them from being eaten by a sea monster. It wasn’t like he was used to getting a lot of gratitude anyway.

Despite the great burger and beer, Dean was more than ready to get back to the boat. Even after only a few weeks on the water, it seemed kind of wrong to be ashore for so many days while they worked on the case. Thankfully Benny seemed to agree, and they decided to sit out on the deck for a while, cuddling together on a pile of pillows as stars slowly blinked into existence above them.

In the gloom of dusk, watching the last of the light reflect off the water in startling swaths of red and green and blue, Dean couldn’t help thinking about the night they’d arrived in the town. It was becoming harder to convince himself that some time off was all this was. Out here, with Benny, he felt like he could really relax, even with a case just wrapped up, which usually had him more wound up than anything. Everything just seemed different, better.

Maybe he’d just found the missing piece to make things make sense, or at least as much sense as his life would ever make. And maybe that piece was Benny.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Concrit welcome. If you like my fic, feel free to come hit me up [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/)!


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